Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 64

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194

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Loren P. Smith, late professor of agriculture in the Iowa Agricul- tural College.

Henry H. Wing, professor of animal industry and dairy husbandry in Cornell University.

Joseph R. Chamberlain, late professor of agriculture in the Agricul- tural College of North Carolina.

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In February, 1879, the Cornell University Experiment Station was organized for the purpose of promoting agriculture by scientific experi- mentation and investigation. A board of control was appointed, con- sisting of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University, with one representative each from the State Agricultural Society, the State Grange, the State Dairymen's Association, the Western New York Farmer's Club, the Central New York Farmer's Club, the American In- stitute Farmer's Club, and the Ithaca Farmer's Club. Professor I. P. Roberts was clected president, and Professor C. C. Caldwell director. This experiment station seems to have been a voluntary association of the professors, who invited the co-operation of the representatives of various agricultural societies. It marks the beginning of a series of investigations whose value to the economic and scientific side of agri- culture can scarcely be overestimated. It would be difficult to sum- marize the numerous publications of this organization. There have been investigations in the chemistry of milk, in the manufacture of dairy products, in the value of fertilizers with various crops, in the diseases of cattle, in the results of feeding, in experiments with self- sown seeds, field experiments with various crops and the various varie- ties of grains and grasses; experiments in the feeding of cattle, with reference to the production of milk, and also of flesh; valuable ex- periments in entomology, in insects injurious to vegetation; in the an- alysis of commercial foods and fertilizers, etc., etc. A special appro- priation was made by the trustees for the use of the station for the year 1881-2, and Dr. S. B. Newbury was appointed chemist, and a second appropriation, somewhat larger, made for the following year. Upon the resignation of Dr. Newbury, Mr. F. E. Furry was appointed in his place. About this time Congress took action, which added, in- directly, to the original endowment for the support of these national schools. To meet the cost of investigation, in addition to instruction, a special appropriation was made "In order to aid in acquiring and diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects connected with agriculture, and to promote scientific investigation and experiment respecting the principles and ap- plications of agricultural science, there shall be established under di- rection of the college or colleges, or agricultural departments of col- leges in each State or Territory, in accordance with 'the Congressional Land Grant,' a department to be known and designated as an Agricul- tural Experiment Station." The act of Congress provided, "That it

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shall be the object and duty of said experiment stations to conduct original researches, or verify experiments on the physiology of plants and animals; the diseases to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth; the comparative advantages of rota- tive cropping, as pursued under a varying series of crops; the capacity of new plants or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils and water; the chemical composition of manures, natural or artificial, with experi- ments designed to test their comparative effects on crops of different kinds; the adaptation and value of grasses and forage plants; the com- position and digestibility of the different kinds of food for domestic animals; the scientific and economic questions involved in the produc- tion of butter and cheese; and such other researches or experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States, as may in each case be deemed advisable, having duc regard to the vary- ing conditions and needs of the respective States or Territories."

To meet the necessary expenses of conducting investigations and ex- periments, and printing and distributing the results, the sum of $15,000 per annum was appropriated to each State to be paid out of any money in the treasury proceeding from sales of public lands. It was provided that the results of investigations or experiments should be submitted annually to the governor of the State in which the college was situated, and the bulletins or reports of progress of these stations should be sent to every newspaper in the State in which the experiment station was located, and also to individuals actually engaged in farming who might request the same, so far as the means of the station permitted.

This is the important "Hatch law," under the action of which the work of the experiment station, previously established, has been con- tinued with enlarged facilities. The department as organized did not consist simply of the special scientists who were attached to it, but all professors in the university, whose chairs were allied, have constituted the staff of investigation, and every year has scen special reports in chemistry, general botany, cryptogamic botany, entomology, agricul- ture, horticulture and veterinary science. The splendid equipment of the university has been thus utilized to contribute to the efficiency of the experiment station. The mere utilitarian value of these investiga- tions has been such as to contribute to national wealth and elevate the entire work of the farm. It has been found that by using scientifically the familiar material which has always been available, the annual

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value of the products of the farm may be increased, and the danger to growing fruits and grains from insects harmful to plant life, mitigated, if not overcome. The introduction of new varieties of fruits and grains and breeds of cattle and fowls has added enormously to the materials of wealth at the disposal of the farmer. Single investiga- tions, patiently conducted in the laboratory, have resulted in discov- eries, whose annual contribution to the national wealth rcaches many millions. The diseases of cattle, which are more serious from the pos- sibility of communication to human beings, have been investigated. The relation of climate, soil and locality to the profitable production of grain has received elucidation, and the use of proper plant foods has been determined by scientific analysis. Production has not been merely improved, but doubled. In the year 1892, Governor Flower called the attention of the Legislature to the advantages offered by Cor- nell University for conducting successfully the various State agencies for the promotion of agriculture, which had been heretofore divided and which, in his view, should be concentrated under the direction of one bureau. He said: "I think it will be conceded that more effec- tive scientific work of this nature can be done in connection with a great educational institution, and the grouping of these now scattered departments of agriculture at one place and under one general super- vision, will also be a considerable saving of expense and maintenance. Cornell University furnishes an excellent nucleus for carrying on this work, and its facilities and instructors might be utilized by the State to great advantage to agricultual interests. The State Meteorological Bureau is already located there. There is also an Agricultural Ex- periment Station already established and doing effective work. More- over, the institution has established practical courses of instruction in agriculture, botany, horticulture, dairy husbandry, animal industry, poultry keeping and veterinary science. It offers free of charge and without examination to all persons who are sixteen years of age com- petent instruction in these subjects for one or more terms." The Gov- ernor proceeds: "All this is exactly in line with what the State is now trying to accomplish through miscellaneous agencies for the en- couragement of modern methods of agriculture. The question pre- sented is whether official efforts can be combined with these private

efforts in the interests of both economy and efficiency. It is entirely, however, with a view to such advantage that I would urge the concentration at Cornell University of the various agencies for

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promoting scientific agriculture. To carry out this suggestion would not only enable the State to do more effective work immediately and at less expense, but would permit the State from time to time to ex- tend its field of usefulness in this direction without the creation of new boards and new officers. The proper diffusion of knowledge with reference to the preservation law of our forests is of vital interest to the future welfare of the State and could be obtained through such an agency. The same is true of the spread of veterinary science. Public attention has only lately been called to the vast importance of this subject, not merely as it affects the value of our live stock, but because of its intimate relation to the question of public health. Modern science has demonstrated that a large proportion of human diseases is directly traceable to diseases of animals. And proper regard for the health of the community will eventually demand scientific protection against dangers of this kind. Our State is too thoroughly com- mitted to the encouragement of agriculture to abandon it. State energy and public money, however, should not be frittered away by misappropriation and misdirection. The time is ripe for the adoption of some comprehensive, systematic and intelligent policy which shall assure the best results at the least expenditure." Acting in accordance with these suggestions the Legislature appropriated fifty thousand dol- lars for a building and its equipment for dairy husbandry. This fine and skillfully designed edifice of Ohio sandstone was erected in 1893 upon the east side of the north quadrangle of the university. It con- tains lecture rooms, a reading room, laboratory for general agricultural analysis, and a smaller laboratory for special investigations, and the office of the professor of dairy husbandry; also rooms for the manu- facture of butter and cheese and also storage rooms, together with a steam engine for furnishing the requisite power to be employed.

The university has recognized fully its duty to the State. It received 990,000 acres of land, the value of which did not exceed sixty cents per acre, or a total endowment of $594,000. The annual proceeds of this sum at five per cent. interest would amount to $29, 700; yet the average expenditure by Cornell University during the last ten years for purposes of agricultural instruction alone has much exceeded this amount. The expenditures in the five departments of agriculture, horticulture, botany, entomology, and veterinary science have averaged $36,762 per year for a decade. This does not include instruction in chemistry, which is a part of the Agricultural College, nor any of the expenditures

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for the great Department of Mechanic Arts, which, with agriculture is a twin child of the Land Grant. Professor Bailey has outlined the future form of agricultural education. He says that the university must be taken to the people. "For the teaching of agriculture, then, we must make a new species of curriculum and some of the instruction must be given away from the university, where special needs or special equipments exist. This instruction for best results should be given partly in class room work, partly in actual laboratory practice upon a sufficient scale to demonstrate the value of the methods as farm operations, and partly upon farms and gardens in various parts of the State. Instruction by the teachers and instructors in charge must be liberally supplemented by lectures upon special topics from men who have made signal success in those directions." After citing the several proposed courses as they exist in this university, he says: "In addition to all this there should be definite instruction by means of correspond- ence and extension lectures, and any mature student, who desires special instruction in a particular topic, should be allowed to come and go at any time." Acting upon views like these, which expressed the judgment of the College of Agriculture, a special course of instruction extending through the winter term was introduced. Lectures present- ing a rapid survey of agricultural processes with a discussion of the best materials for the farmer's profession were given. This course attracted wide attention. Young men came from the farms, practical farmers came even from without the State to listen to the most advanced scientific discussion of the raising of grain, the preparation of the soil; the subject of dairy farming; breeding; and the various questions connected with farm economy. During the first winter of 1893, in which this special course in agriculture was given, it was attended by forty-eight students. In the winter of 1893, the attendance reached sixty-five, thus vindicating at once the success of the plan, which became the means of diffusing the freshest intelligence in agricultural communities throughout the State. Attention has been called also to the importance of new departments of study such as forestry, flori- culture, including in its practice twenty thousand people with an annual value of over twenty-six million of dollars, etc.

The Department of Horticulture was reorganized upon its present basis in 1888, upon the establishment of the National Experiment Station. At that time Professor L. H. Bailey, who held the chair of horticulture and landscape gardening in the Michigan Agricultural

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College, was selected to inaugurate the new department. This horti- cultural department is dual in its character, its energies being divided systematically between experiment and teaching. The title of the chair in the university is General and Experimental Horticulture, and it was probably the first full professorship devoted solely to horticulture in any American university, and probably the first in any academic insti- tution in the country. Ordinarily, landscape gardening, botany or entomology are associated with the subject. Practically, however, the chair now includes landscape gardening, which is taught to students in architecture and agriculture.

The horticultural department is organized upon an entirely different basis from any like department in the country. In teaching, its object is to place horticulture upon much the same basis as those sciences which are generally recognized as elements in a liberal education, rather than to make it a purely technical course or an academic apprenticeship to a profession. In experimentation, the object is also rather to monograph certain subjects than to attempt any general tests of varieties of plants, or to raise a general and miscellaneous collection. Cultivated plants, because of their immense variations and great numbers of species, afford one of the readiest means of studying and understanding the fundamental problems of the evolution of the organic world; and this phase of the subject, which elsewhere in America is practically untouched, is here extended into a special course of study. Facilities, are, of course, fully given for the acquirement of the immediately practical arts of horticulture; and greenhouses, gar- dens and orchards are maintained for this purpose. The forcing- houses comprise about 9,000 square feet of glass, and the grounds about twenty acres, of various soils and exposures.

Although the department of horticulture was formally established in 1888, instruction did not begin until the opening of 1889, owing to the absence of Professor Bailey in Europe. There was then no horti- cultural equipment of any kind at the university, not even a growing orchard. Results up to this time, therefore, have not been great. There has been an earnest body of students from the first, however, largely due to the fact that all the horticultural courses are elective. Amongst the students from the department who have already assumed prominent responsibilities, arc the following: W. M. Munson, professor of horticulture in the Agricultural College of Maine; C. W. Mathews, professor of horticulture and botany in the University of Kentucky;

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F. W. Rane, professor of horticulture and agriculture in the University of West Virginia; L. C. Corbett, professor of horticulture and forestry in the Agricultural College of South Dakota; F. W. Card, professor of horticulture in the University of Nebraska; H. L. Hutt, professor of horticulture in the Agricultural College of Ontario; F. H. Burnette, horticulturist to the Experiment Station, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; W. E. Britton, assistant in the Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut; and E. G. Lodeman, instructor in horticulture and assistant-horticulturist to the Experiment Station, Cornell University.

Twenty-six separate bulletins have been issued from the Experiment Station by the horticultural department, beside thirty-nine articles in general bulletins. The most important of these bulletins are mono- graphs on certain groups of plants, as the native plums and cherries, Japanese plums, dewberries, mulberries, egg-plants, etc. The experi- ments upon the influence of the electric light upon vegetation, which have been farther extended here than elsewhere in the world, have also been prominent contributions.

VETERINARY SCIENCE.

The Veterinary Department of Cornell University was organized in 1868 as a division of agricultural education, which was imperatively prescribed in the Land Grant Act. This early recognition of veteri- nary science was doubtless largely due to the personal interest taken in the subject by the founder, who appreciated the culture of the soil as the foundation of all solid national prosperity, and the multiplication and improvement of farm animals as the basis of a permanent fertility of the land. He had already shown his faith by his works by gather- ing at his farm a valuable herd of imported short-horn cattle, a flock of Southdown sheep and an Arabian stallion-a representative of that race from which all that is excellent in the equine family has been de- rived.

For the first year the work of the veterinary professor was confined to the delivery of a course of lectures on anatomy, physiology and hygiene, dietetics, breeding, veterinary medicine and surgery. Atten- tion was also given to such clinical instruction as was afforded by the presentation of animals for treatment. President White, however, early expressed his intention of securing a fully equipped veterinary college, and in the second academic year (1869-70), at the urgent re-

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quest of several students, special classes in veterinary anatomy, phys- iology and hygiene were begun, supplemented later by others in the science of pathology, the practice of medicine and surgery and the various cognate subjects that go to make up a professional education.

Of the students that pursued these special courses, a number entered veterinary schools elsewhere, where they could secure a degree at an earlier date; others entered medical schools and some devoted them- selves to other departments of science. Representatives of these special classes are found to-day teaching in veterinary, medical and other col- leges. Four only secured the Cornell degree in veterinary medicine, and of these, three are now employed in the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washington; one, for a period of ten years, a's chief, and the other two as valued co-workers in the field of veterinary sanitary science. The work of these students, as published in the yearly reports of the bureau, reflect the highest credit on their alma mater, and on their own scientific devotion and acumen. Dr. Salmon, chief of the bureau, has served four years as alumni trustee in Cornell University.

As time passed without any material addition to the equipment, it became only too plain that to maintain the semblance of a veterinary school with existing means, and to grant degrees, was unfair to all concerned, institution, teacher and students, and in the absence of any immediate prospect of an adequate equipment, it was judged better to refuse all students who came with the object of obtaining a veterinary degree. For a number of years, therefore, the veterinary department has been remanded to the position which it occupied in the first year of the university, as a simple chair in the College of Agriculture.

In connection with the failure of the department to develop into a veterinary college, it should be stated that the executive committee twice appropriated the sum of $10,000 to construct a veterinary build- ing, but as no suitable site could be agreed upon, the appropriation lapsed, and veterinary instruction is still given in connection with a small room for a museum and the use of a lecture room devoted, in the main, to another science.

But if we have failed in the first twenty-five years of the institution to furnish a veterinary college, the chair has not been without influence upon the State and Nation apart from the instruction furnished to students. Since 1869 the veterinary professor has been consulting veterinarian to the New York State Agricultural Society, and, besides attendance at the State fairs and examination of animals on exhibition,

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he has contributed at intervals to the Transactions of the Society, some of which contributions have been translated and republished in Europe. In 1878 he was appointed by Governor Robinson as veterinary counsel in dealing with the lung plague of cattle in the State of New York. In 1881 he was appointed chairman of the United States Treasury Cat- tle Commission, and prepared three yearly reports on the restriction and suppression of epizootics, together with a number of lesser reports on particular outbreaks of contagious and other animal diseases. As a member of this commission he superintended the location, erection and starting of the cattle quarantine stations at the ports of Portland, Boston, New York and Baltimore, which have been conducted by the Department of Agriculture since the formation of the Bureau of Ani- mal Industry in 1884. In 1883 he represented the United States De- partment of Agriculture at the International Veterinary Congress at Brussels, Belgium, and embodied in a paper the deliberations and resolutions of that body for the report of the Department of Agricul- ture of that year. To this was appended a report on the veterinary colleges of Europe. In 1885 he was appointed by the governor as State veterinarian and served in that capacity until called in 1887 by the United States Department of Agriculture to direct the work for the extinction of the lung plague in cattle in Illinois. Having accomplished this object, and having been granted a year's leave of absence by the university, he went successively to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York to assist in the organization of the work for the extinction of this plague in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. In this latter State, he remained in charge of the work, in the double ca- pacity of agent of the governor and veterinary superintendent for the United States Department of Agriculture, until the fall of 1888, when he resigned to resume his university duties. The sanitary work was, how- ever, continued on the same lines, and in three years the continent was rid of the lung plague in cattle, which it had harbored for forty years, at a loss in its exports alone of $2,000,000 per annum.

Beside these official services the incumbent of the veterinary chair has contributed largely to educate the public on veterinary medicine and surgery, and veterinary sanitary matters. His Farmer's Veterinary Adviser, which has been used as a text book in many agricultural colleges, has reached its 10th edition and has been republished in Canada and England. For years he was a constant contributer to the New York Tribune, The Live Stock Journal, The Breeders' Gazette,

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and others papers, and a number of his public lectures have been published in the transactions of different societies. As contributions to standard works may be named: Articles on Anthrax and Glanders in Ziemssen's "Cyclopedia of Medicine;" on Veterinary Science in the American edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica;" on Rabies, Anthrax and Glanders in Pepper's "System of Medicine by American Authors;" on Horse Training in Appleton's "Cyclopedia;" and on Rabies, Anthrax, Actinomycosis and Glanders in the "American System of Medicine."

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Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 64

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194